Why Didn’t God Warn Adam and Eve in Genesis 3?

Adam and Eve eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

It would be easy to ask this question in hindsight. Why DIDN’T God warn Adam and Eve? I can’t conceivably answer that question, as His “thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD,” (Isaiah 55:8). Any answer I can possibly give could not reasonably or realistically be acceptable as utter truth.

What I believe about the question, however, is this. First, God DID warn them about not eating the fruit. This alone is reason to say that Adam was in a state of willful rebellion. I don’t think it is necessarily fair to say I should have been warned when I was already told not to do something or else I would die. So, my contention is that by being told not to by God in chapter 2, they already HAD been warned.

Previous warnings notwithstanding, I do believe that there is another side to this issue. The other part to this equation is this: Love is a choice. Obedience, likewise, is a choice. Had God explicitly warned them, He would be effectively taking the choice out of the equation. Thus, I think that for God to have warned them further would be a removal of choice. Even with Adam and Eve making the wrong choice, God in His sovereignty already knew how the problem would play itself out and how He would reconcile His creation to Himself. Read Genesis 3:15-16 and consider that this is very much the first telling of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

you are literally inside a classic heresy that is its own speech environment to ask that question.

1. you assume God spoke to Adam in the speech fallen men have today: you assume they are the same speech.

2. They are not the same speech. Jesus Christ is the Word of God by which all things were and are created. Human speech is non-creating speech. If you know any creature who can merely speak and have something wink into existence , let me know.

3. The assumption that there is only one speech in total reality is the mindset of fallen men, not true Christians. We as Christians have been non-metaphorical born again specifically by hearing the Word of God. The actual experience of being new creature proves to us there are two speaks in all reality –not one.

4. God divided non-creating speech, the speech of the serpent to Eve that is a spirit, at Babel. God is never divided. “There he divided THEIR speech..”

5. You are asking questions that don’t make sense in the truth of Jesus Christ, but make perfect sense in a speech environment wherein nothing is created. That’s not a good thing. That implies you have no personal experience with God as Creating Word.

6. God and Satan do not have the same speech. It is not at all a case of one big speech existing and God using it one way while Satan and fallen man use it another way. God IS His Word/Christ.

7. This is basic, orthodox Christianity: The Incarnation of the Word of God? “..and the Word was made flesh…?” Why would God send Himself as specifically as Word into the world is the speech of the world was sufficient?

8. What God Says to those who do not understand He is Word and God as distinct from their own speech:

John 8:43-45 Why do ye not know my speech? Because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of the devil, as your father, and ye desire to do the lusts of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks falsehood, he speaks of what is his own; for he is a liar and its father: and because I speak the truth, ye do not believe me.

9. Your question presupposes a will-neutral speech that is not-God, but that God and Adam commonly share that is the same speech of now-fallen men. That is not so. God actually created the fall by speaking: “on the day thou eatest.” God never said “if you eat..”. God also spoke through Adam the law of marriage as creating speech: he subsequently left his father and clung to his wife..

Jesus Christ specifically Says that God spoke the law of marriage and Christ Says it both as creating speech and as honoring Himself as former creating speech and as making it completely unambiguous:

Matthew 19:4-6 But he answering said to them , Have ye not read that HE WHO MADE THEM , from the beginning made them male and female, AND SAID, On account of this a man shall leave father and mother, and shall be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh? so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

Christians hold to God AS Word, not simply “God speaking”. ‘God Said” to non-Christians is simply a another way of saying “there is only one speech in total reality ..otherwise I wouldn’t have free will!”

I’m not sure I understood your ranting. I was answering a question posed to me by someone else. You are being very legalistic and reading into the text what simply isn’t there. God spoke to Adam and Eve. I know God spoke the heavens and earth into existence, but the question was a matter of God communicating with Adam and Eve. I realize the power of God’s speech (by the way, that is really rude of you to question my personal relationship with God because I’m not willing to nitpick the scripture and read into it at a level that is not supported by the text), but this is not a matter of creation. This was simply a sincere seeker asking me a question in reference to why God wouldn’t warn Adam and Eve about the serpent.

My suggestion to you, Timothy, is that you read 1 Peter 3:15-16. It’s fine to correct error and be able to explain the hope that lies within us, but we are called to do so with gentleness and respect. Your tone in reply to a question that wasn’t addressed to you tells me that you proably do neither.

The problem with what you have said is that it protects error with a blanket of emotional sophistication.

1. someone asked you a question.

2. you automatically responded to that question by posting as if the question itself was legitimate.

3. That lead you into error and being one who passes along error. Satan suckered you into error.

4. 99% of the time, truth is not nice to the human heart and most people know by a certain age: true friendship is, to a certain extent, quarrel. At the least, rebuke.

5. 99% of the time, those in error always respond to the truth sent them by Jesus Christ: “I’d believe you if you had said it nicer.”

6. the trap you are in is one of emotional recognition of truth. God can’t speak through a mentally handicapped person to you because they are arch-typically dumb? Through a rude person because they are breaking human emotional rules? Through a clown because they are too funny and not serious enough? God’s power is not limited. But in your eyes that leaves the arch-typical disguises of Satan in this age to speak to you: slick, reserved, a bit effeminate, very well mannered and the women love him.

1 Peter 3:15-16 as a defense against truth? are you joking?

When a brother is attacked by lies that include an emotional goo to make them sticky ..and unrecognizable to the victim, at what point does it become okay to effect a rescue as God does it through us, rather than ask “are you okay?” You were not okay and you were oblivious.

What about now? Stop caring too much about what doesn’t need to cared about at all. God does this –not us.

James 3:17,18 But the wisdom from above FIRST is pure, THEN peaceful, gentle, yielding, full of mercy and good fruits, unquestioning, unfeigned. But the fruit of righteousness in peace is sown for them that make peace.

1. I was asked that question by someone else who was a sincere seeker of God and the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. The question IS legitimate. It may come from a heart of personifying God and not seeing God as beyond the thoughts of humans (putting God in a human box) but it was a sincere question by someone trying to understand God better.

3. I wasn’t in error. I said I had no idea, but that He kind of DID warn them. Where is the problem in what I said?

4. I realize that truth is sometimes hard to hear. Duh. I work in Apologetics/Discernment ministry. There is a difference in quarreling for the sake of correction and truth and quarreling to be right. You seem like the latter.

5. I am not responding like that in any way. Again, your responses and comments make me think you quarrel more for your sake than God’s.

6. I recognize God’s truth. His sheep know His voice. I also know the voice of those who are whitewashed tombs, those who would travel the ocean to make a proselyte who is twice the son of Hell as they are. I know when someone is straining a gnat and choking on a camel. Do those rebukes sound familiar? Our Lord used them against those of His day who were not concerned for the truth of God, but for their own gain and for their own agendas. If you were truly after God’s agenda, you would be more concerned about reaching this person who asked me this than correcting me with your own contrived religion.

I never said 1 Peter 3:15 was a defense against truth. You twisted my words. It is a clear call to be able to defend your faith in love and respect. You do neither.

I don’t need your rescue. You need someone to open your eyes to the truth of God and the salvation that comes from our Lord Jesus Christ.

I rescued no one. God did. In every way you presented your ‘answer’ as if God were speaking human language.

You should look past the GENUINE intentions of simple Christians to see who and what is driving them to ask questions that can only be asked in ignorance of Christ as he really is as the Word of God. I get the strong impression you are not teaching that distinction: otherwise you would not have posted as you did. That points to you being deceived Satan working through the good intentions of others.

You work in a discernment ministry? What exactly is a discernment ministry? If its what I think you think it is, that would set you up to VERY prideful in failing to see a danger when your supposed specialty is seeing danger and warning others.

True fellowship is not always pleasant. That’s just reality.

We work in Christ. That’s the calling and job God does through us.

Luke 22:31-34 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to have you, to sift you as wheat; but *I* have besought for thee that thy faith fail not; and *thou*, when once thou hast been restored, confirm thy brethren. And he said to him, Lord, with thee I am ready to go both to prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow to-day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

and there is also this on the day of judgment:

3 John 1:10 For this reason, if I come, I will bring to remembrance his works which he does, babbling against us with wicked words; and not content with these, neither does he himself receive the brethren; and those who would he prevents, and casts them out of the assembly.

I’ve read enough of your blog and your comments to be able to discern your type. You are the type of Christian who quarrels not out of a desire to save God’s lost or to be obedient unto Him, but to fill yourself in false pride. You seem to be like the type of hyper-Calvinist who is convinced that all who don’t agree with the tenets of Calvinism aren’t saved and are going to Hell and the only Bible version is the King James. Correct?

BRING HOME YOUR MISSIONS {{ GOD WARNED ADAM AND EVE VERY STRONGLY!}} As He has sent warning through me this day, of His Epic gathering beginning! Go to His website at http://www.adamandeveseedgatheringministry.com and there our Father and Mother of the Garden are honored for their now Completed mission from God! Genesis 2:19-20! Adam has named and researched all Life upon Earth! STAY FROM CANAAN/MUSLIM LANDS, STAY FROM CUSH/AFRICAN LANDS! THESE ARE THE DAYS OF NOAH! HE, NOW DROWNS AND CRUSHS AGAIN MANY FOR THESE VERSE’S DEUTERONOMY 32:43, AND MATTHEW 24:7-8-30, AND MATTHEW 25:34, AND REV:21:3-4! AS STATED GO TO HIS WEBSITE AND READ THE ENTIRE SITE, MUCH PROOF OF HIS COMING, AND OF ME BEING SENT…much Respect r.p.berry / Elijah paul Moses

I couldn’t pass up that nugget there. I always feel left out because God doesn’t appoint me the leader of all of His people or something cool like that. Nor did I get a killer Bible name. I just got the mother of all Irish kid names. Good for you, Mr. Moses.

This is why I feel like apologetics are so important. You need discernment to sift through nuttiness like that🙂

Donald, is correct when he wrote this sentence. “Read Genesis 3:15-16 and consider that this is very much the first telling of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!”
And the proof is written right into the story about Adam and Eve. Here it is:

In the Book of Genesis, God is telling us two stories with the words of one. From the appearance of being the first two humans in creation Adam and Eve share a commonality with all of us. Adam and Eve are representatives for all of us. God has hidden a prophesy about the future in the story. The following is the interpretation of the story about Adam and Eve in the present. I start at Genesis 2:17

Gen 2 : 17 But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.”

Trees don’t grow knowledge so I know God is talking in symbols. Knowledge comes from Books. Books are made from the pulp of trees. So the Tree is a Book. A Tree is a metaphor for a Book. This book has knowledge of good and bad. The Book is the Bible. The Bible contains the knowledge of good and bad. Besides I took this verse right out of the Bible. You can’t eat from a book and gain knowledge, but you can digest a book . As in Readers Digest. You are taking the words in, like food. God says, you will positively die. The Book has poison in it. The poison is the fruit on the tree.

What is the fruit on the tree that we must not eat? Or, What is the fruit in the New Testament? We know that a Cross is also a Tree and Jesus was nailed to the tree. The fruit from the Bible is Jesus. Clues are Adam and Eve are bare naked. Bare sounds like Bear.

The Tree bears Jesus

The Tree of Knowledge is a Book, and the fruit on the tree is Jesus. This is what God is saying.

Gen 2 : 17 But as for the (Book) of the knowledge of good and bad you must not (take in Jesus) from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.”

The proof continues. In the next verse God tells us exactly who Satan is:

Genesis 3 : 1 Now the serpent proved to be the most cautious of all the wild beasts of the field that God had made. So it began to say to the woman: “Is it really so that God said you must not eat from every tree of the garden?” 2 At this the woman said to the serpent: “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat. 3 But as for [eating] of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, “You must not eat from it, no, You must not touch it that you do not die.’”

The snake talks. Again we know that snakes don’t talk so God is talking in symbols. God says the snake is a wild beast. That’s not true, snakes are reptiles. A beast is a mammal. So the Serpent is really a mammal that talks. Man is the only mammal that talks. The serpent is really a man. Then, how do snakes deceive us. We think the snake is a stick until we almost step on it. Then it moves. Now we know the Serpent is a Man with characteristics of a stick. The snake speaks from the stick. Does this sound familiar:

The Church speaks from the Cross.

The Cross is a metaphor for a Stick. The serpent talks from the stick and the Church talks from the Cross. If it sounds the same, it is the same. The Roman Catholic Pagan Church is Satan. The great deceiver, who would have ever known if it hadn’t been written by God himself right into the Bible. Satan is really the Christian Church.

Genesis 3 : 4 At this the serpent (Church) said to the woman: “You positively will not die. 5 For God knows that in the very day of your eating (digesting) from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.” 6 Consequently the woman saw that the tree (book) was good for food and that it was something to be longed for to the eyes, yes, the tree (book) was desirable to look upon. So she began taking of its fruit and eating it (reading it). Afterward she gave some also to her husband when with her and he began eating it (he also began reading) . 7 Then the eyes of both of them became opened and they began to realize that they were naked (sinners). Hence they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings for themselves (hidding their sin) .

You don’t realize your naked from eating fruit. There is no known food that makes you suddenly realize you don‘t have clothes on. You do realize your naked if you read the New Testament and it states that being naked is a sin.

More proof that the serpent is the Church. The interpretation continues in the following verse from Genesis. Satan says take in Jesus (the fruit) and you positively will not die. The Catholic Church says: believe in Jesus and you positively will not die. Satan and the Church sound similar to me. Read the verse for yourself here:

Genesis 3 : 4 At this the serpent (church) said to the woman: “You positively will not die. 5 For God knows that in the very day of your eating (taking Jesus in) from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.”

The Serpent says: “Take in Jesus (the fruit) and you positively will not die”. The Church says: Believe in Jesus and you positively will not die. Sounds the same to me. If it sounds the same it is the same. The Serpent is the Church.

** Keep in mind that God wrote this story thousands of years before Jesus ever shows up.

Genesis 3 : 14 And God proceeded to say to the Serpent (Christian Church) : “Because you have done this thing, you are the cursed one out of all the domestic animals and out of all the wild beasts of the field. Upon your belly you will go and dust is what you will eat all the days of your life. 15 And I shall put enmity (hatred) between you and the woman and between your seed (what the church sows) and her seed (what she brings forth) . He will bruise you in the head (the head of the church will be bruised) and you will bruise him in the heel .”

In these two verses God is saying that he is cursing the Roman Catholic Church for what they did. The church will slither away and dust it will eat for the rest of it’s life. God says he will put enmity, hatred, between the Church and the Woman. Man will bruise the head of the Church and the Serpent will bruise man at the heel. Heel is the hind part of the foot, which means man will be bruised as he walks away from the Catholic Church.

In these two verses God is saying that he is cursing the Roman Catholic Church for what they did. The church will slither away and dust it will eat for the rest of it’s life. God says he will put enmity, hatred, between the Church and the Woman. Man will bruise the head of the Church and the Serpent will bruise man at the heel. Heel is the hind part of the foot, which means man will be bruised as he walks away from the Catholic Church.

* Your right that this is the first telling of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, after reading what God had to say about not eating Jesus. I now consider that this is the Last telling of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Sorry to all of you the loved and believed Jesus as the Prophet. However, You still have God. And most of all, this story proves that God is real.

Mel Steffor, you ran off the track and then you kept on driving your locomotive until you were in the seventeenth dimension!
“Trees don’t grow knowledge so I know God is talking in symbols. Knowledge comes from Books. Books are made from the pulp of trees. So the Tree is a Book. ”
Not necessarily. Books are made from trees these days. But the Dead Sea Scrolls (New Testament) were written mostly on parchment (animal skin) but also on papyrus (more a weed than a tree–and certainly not a fruit-bearing tree as described in Genesis). The New Testament writers–much less the Old Testament writers–did not have the technology to make paper from trees. You have used a modern understanding of paper and tried to apply it to a time 2000-4000 years ago. It does not apply. Besides that, knowledge does not come only from books. The New Testament books were propagated orally and not committed to paper until at least forty years after the crucifixion. Who knows how how many decades the book of Genesis was told orally before it was ever written down? Whatever else the tree may represent symbolically, it is not a book. So your interpretation is wrong. So your claim that God gave us the Genesis story as a prophecy (of the coming evil of the RC church) falls flat. And you haven’t proved the existence of God because all you’ve done in constructing this alleged prophecy is to take things that already happened and then mine an earlier myth for symbolic links. Cultists and fake-psychics use this same trick all the time.

Why did God not tell Adam and Eve about Hell or the Devil? I know you may say that God was testing their faith. The only thing is to pass a test you need all the important information to do so. Because if you only get half the information you will fail the test. I know God would never give half the truth or lie to His Creation. Yes, God did tell them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil but why would he not tell them about an evil entity(Satan) who could be disguised in many forms and would try to deceive them. Why also did He not warn them of the eternal consequences? If He did warn them, why was this left out of the Bible? Like later on in the Bible on the story of Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel and God cursed Cain to the ground. Later Cain went and found his wife. Who was this woman? Why is her identity left out of the Bible? There are a number of lineage mentioned in the Bible how so and so begat so and so but no mention of Cain’s wife. Why was it so important that it be left out of the Bible? We know Cain had a son named Enoch but no info on his wifes name. I know God’s ways are not our ways or he does not intend for us to know or understand everything, but why were some things in the first several chapters of Genesis unclear on these events? Also in Genesis chapter 1 vs 26 or 27 God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply? How is this because God did mention anything about childbearing until Genesis 3 when man fell. Was God intending on making more people or was God going to allow Eve have children even though mans fall did not happen until later?

Hi Ohnoesyoudiint , I have heard this same argument before that way back then, 1000’s of years ago, books were made from (animal skin) but also on papyrus. But I am teling you that the story about Adam and Eve is about the future. We are in the future right now. In the future books are made out of paper from trees. Paper is a tree in a different form. It’s metaphor. This is good hard proof that God wrote genesis. Who else knows about the future? If I knew what the future holds I would have bought IBM stock years ago.

Now I also believed in Jesus as the Messiah. I felt a deep loss when I saw the truth. I had to let go, I was wrong. I accepted that I was worng. But I realized I still had God. The loss of Jesus brought me closer to God. Now, I am not always happy with God cause he made me run right into the Fruit Tree right in front of the Catholic Church. God hit me with a tree, I fell to the ground and when I got back on my feet I had a bloody lip. But I got the message. I am learning the hard way and I am sure lessons don’t come easy for you either. When I am being stupid God gives me a good hard wack.

I think we can assume the reason why god didn’t warn adam and eve what the real consequences would be (From eating a simple apple! Like that is really that horrible of a thing to do!) is because GOD WANTED SIN TO ENTER THE WORLD. It was his plan. He basically controlled Adam and eve like robots, knowing that if he WITHHELD information from them, that they would SURELY eat this apple!

So, in that sense god FORCED them to eat it (under the guise that he gave them free will) So not only did god FORCE them to eat this apple, but he also KNEW in advance they would eat it (So they were not being tested, as god already knew the outcome) and he set them up to eat it, by putting the tree there to begin with. What is the first thing a child does when you tell them not to something? They go and do it. We are rebellious by nature, and so was god’s supposed “perfect” creation. If they were so perfect, why did they rebel? If satan was so perfect, why did he develop pride a deadly sin?

Looks like god’s creation WASN’T so perfect after all. At least not in god’s eyes. In a normal person’s eyes, pride is not a “deadly sin”. And not even a bad thing at all. Your sick and delusional god is the one who made up that word and idea. If you want to serve a cruel god who allowed suffering to come into the world because two people at a freakin apple, then so bet it. You can be a slave, our of FEAR. low vibrational fear. But that is your choice. Choose very carefully…because your soul depends on it. Nobody can force you to do anything. You won’t go to hell because you didn’t accept this evil god. That was a lie to trick you into accepting it.

If god was JUST he would of warned adam and eve, that if they ate this apple, all of their decendants would inherit SIN (And he would of explained what this entailed, innocent animals suffering, blood sacrifices, insane diseases, eternity in hell, etc) and then they still would of had free will to eat it. Satan could of still tried to trick them and lie to them and they would have a choice…who to believe…god or satan. I dont think they would of taken a chance of eating the apple had GOD BEEN HONEST WITH THEM about the real conequences of their actions. GOD WAS DECEPTIVE by not telling them even half the truth. (You will surely die, is about as vague as you can get)

Also I was reading an article where the insane christian said “We would of all done the same thing had we been in adam and eve’s shoes” …all i can say to that is SPEAK FOR YOURSELF! I wouldn’t of eaten an apple, had someone told me it was deadly. I mean i can’t say for sure, as I don’t know how igorant adam and eve were…but to say all 7 billion people in the world would of made the SAME choice, implies we DONT have free will and we are all robots! You see the oxy moron behind this? So, I can only conclude god wanted sin and suffering to enter the world and it was no one’s fault, but god’s and god’s alone.

So the real question is, why did god want us to suffer, when he could of made us a lot happier and more harmonious?

For starters, we don’t really know what kind of fruit it was. Could have been an apple, could have been a lychee for all we know. Scripture doesn’t say. And while it’s easy to second guess God in His way of dealing with sin/death/etc, I find that this question arises most frequently out of a lack of understanding of both God’s nature and our nature in how we interact with God. I don’t really find it necessary for God to spell every detail out for me. He said don’t eat the fruit. If you eat it, you’ll die were His words. How much do you really need? I tell my kids all the time not to do things without elaborating fully on the reason, because I know they aren’t going to understand it. In the same way, even when God spelled out His desires, people didn’t understand them, either out of hard heartedness or stupidity. Either way, I don’t really think He is obligated to spell things out, just like I’m not. Secondly, how did he control them like robots? In all of your examples here, you seem to leave out free will and the very fact that free will DOES in fact tend to allow for the ability for the actor to act in a way not desirable. So, God didn’t control Adam and Eve by not spelling out every little detail, He allowed for them to not love Him enough to listen to Him.

Personally, I would find your view of a “perfect creation” not too perfect. It’s not a matter of God wanting us to suffer. The reality is that suffering builds character. Show me someone who has great character and I’ll bet there are some struggles and suffering that bore that out. Life isn’t about being free from suffering. Life isn’t about living “happy” like a fat pig at a feeder trough. What kind of existence is that? Life is about growing, developing, learning new things about yourself and your world, learning new ways to interact with others. In short, the idea is to become more Christ-like.

Your view on the situation would have resulted in obedience, POSSIBLY (probably not, I tell my kids the heinous consequences of actions numerous times only to then have them experience said heinous consequences), but it would have resulted in the kind of obedience that is given at the hands of an iron fisted dictator who was determined that we live “harmoniously.” Makes me think of listening to Pink Floyd’s “Mother” on infinite repeat. No thanks, dude.